less vehement and enthusiastic, and was steadily reassuming mental poise. 20th, attended a dance in the evening, and acted correctly and rationally. From this time on he behaved in a most natural manner. In fact, from the moment he experienced the fall, he seemed to give up all delusions, and yielded his destructive propensities. Remembering that his mildest previous attack had lasted three months, we retained him at the asylum, to make sure of his convalescence, until Sept. 4th, nearly two months from date of admission, when he was discharged recovered, and sent home. I saw the physician who sent this patient to the asylum a few days since (more than two years having elapsed since the recovery), and he informed me that Mr. H. had remained well thus far, that he had attended uninterruptedly to his work, and that he had developed keen enterprise and business tact.

Here was a case, insane for the seventh time in nine years, each previous attack lasting from three to eighteen months, convalescing, through an injury to the brain, from one of the most violent periods he had ever experienced, and that, too, in the space of a very few days. His recovery has already been pronounced for more than two years-more than three times longer than usual. Doubtless the concussion was, in some peculiar manner, the cause of a spontaneous (?) cure but how? Possibly by mild serous effusion. | We know that the mind becomes utterly passive, and irresponsive to ordinary impressions, under the influence of a slow, long continued cerebral effusion, as in dementia. We are not sure but a moderate effusion, from traumatism, occurred in this case; just enough, so to speak, to put a healthy quietus upon the hyperexcitability of a brain long affected with recurrent mania.

Or, possibly, a low grade of inflammation may have been set up by the concussion, and, in the natural process of healing, the formerly diseased and excited nerve cells may have passed into a healthy condition; and thus the brain may have been restored to normal ac

tion.

The great obstacles to further experience in this direction are popular prejudice against the method; and the ever-recurring, never settled, and perpetually vexed "question of dose." The remedy, though ef fectual in this instance, we do not recommend. If taken at all, it must be upon the patient's own responsibility, suddenly, and in spite of warning, protest, or protective measures. Like the Hindoo's sacrifice, the infliction must be self-imposed.

HOMOEOPATHY VS. MATERIALISM.

To materialists the theory of dynamization has never been proved, and never will be while the present spirit of scepticism is harbored. To dynamists this theory has not been ocularly proved, but the result of potentized or attenuated drugs administered in multitudes of cases bas proved at least the efficiency of high potencies. What may actually be the modus operandi is really of little practical import.

1. "Do you not know that the onus probandi lies on the other side?"

We do not "know that the onus probandi lies on the other side." What proof has materialism that a force is not developed in a drug by friction and subdivision, an inherent force, only evolved from matter when the complete surface of each molecule is exposed? Call the power of an attenuated drug by what name you will, you have never proved its nonentity. You have never thoroughly tested the virtues of the high potencies. You reason a priori, as the allopaths, and as those sages before whom Columbus laid his plans. In a high potency you can discover no crude material, yet it cures disease. We ask, what is it that cures? You deny the curative power, naturally, because you cannot fathom it; but that is no proof. We have tried this subtle force in actual practice; we find indisputable evidence of its power to cure.

And now we advance a theory for this, to which we give a name, based upon practical experience. You call it the "dicta of theorists." Can the result of prac tical experience be called "the dicta of theorists ?" You have proved nothing; we have proved more than you can disprove. Upon which side is the onus probandi?

Among scholars accustomed to some exactitude of thought and action," are assertions ever made without the foundation of truth?

2. "It is maintained by materialists that, when a drug has reached a potency beyond which none of the crude drug can in any way be discovered, either chemically or microscopically, the solution or trituration is nothing but the menstruum used for attenuating."

You ask me to "name the materialist who has maintained such an opinion."

Should a well-known materialist have the effronterý to tell a physician, a pioneer of homoeopathy, of at least forty years' experience in the use of high potencies, that the 30th had never cured and was powerless, I should conclude that such a man's belief in the presence of crude material in high potencies was extremely attenuated. Facts are sometimes elicited otherwise than by direct expression. Is it necessary to tell me that Hahnemann has immortalized his name? The class materialists is under discussion, not

INQUIRER."

BY E. N. E., OF BALTIMORE, MD.

For the purpose of making an intelligible criticism, a correct understanding of the subject to be criticised is necessary.

When I sent for publication the article now under discussion, I had some misgivings that its expression might possibly not be clear enough for those who, like our allopathic brethren, see not, because of blind big otry. My fears were not ungrounded, and have been realized.

Our school is divided into two classes; viz.: Materialists and Dynamists. The former wish to weigh homœopathy down with crude drugs and low potencies-to rise but little above the dose of allopathy. The latter wish to develop the greatest amount of good a drug is capable of producing; first acknowledging an inherent force in a drug, only developed by friction and minute subdivision. Dynamists do not necessarily restrict themselves to the use of high potencies, but use the low potencies or crude drugs, should they be more thoroughly indicated.

I will simply state that a close reader of our medical journals will find ample proof of my above quoted assertion.

3. Of materialists I reiterate: "Such men should entirely discard the law of similars, actually as they Hahnemann discovered the law of similars, he began do virtually." When through protracted investigation with the administration of crude drugs, then a few degrees of diminution of drug substance, and finally the higher potencies up to the 30th. Did he then continue the use of the low to the entire exclusion of the high potencies? No. And why? Because he found the high superior to the low in the cure of large numbers of cases.

Can we practice homeopathy and obtain its results in their perfect fullness, when we adhere simply to material doses?

He

When a man acknowledges his belief in the Trinity (I say it reverently), he can make no reservation. must believe in the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost; not in one, or two, but he must believe in the three, or he is not a Trinitarian.

When we accept the law of similars, we must accept its full applicability to the cure of disease. Our materialists do not believe in high potencies; they believe exclusively in the low. To be a homœopathic physician it is essentially necessary that a man believe in the full applicability of the law to disease. A partial belief is not enough.

There are certain cases we find in practice that are only curable by highly potentized remedies. Crude drugs or low potencies only aggravate; and, on the other hand, sometimes the low potencies alone have

the desired effect.

The materialists deny this fact, and with it renounce one-half of the law of cure, thus involuntarily putting themselves without the pale of true homoeopathy. The perfect law of similars is virtually discarded, and I do most honestly claim that it would be far better for homœopathy should these men actually "discard the law of similars." Such men are unfit to attempt the propagation of true homœopathy. The man to whom a reason is absolutely essential for every manifestation, every result of a combination of circumstances, and is only convinced of a fact by such a process, is a sceptic. A little scepticism is wholesome, and only forms a character of sound judgment; but materialists overstep this bound. There are, as I have elsewhere stated, some results in nature the cause of which we are unable to discover; and I accuse these same materialists of inconsisteney when they accept them as facts. A man of this character cannot appreciate in its perfection the law of similars. Obtuseness is his predominating characteristic. I cannot alter this fact. What if three-fourths of the men who claim to be homœopathic physicians are of this class? It is simply a condition to be deplored, not one to be vaunted, as our materialist imagines. They may be satisfied with their mess of pottage- - so are the allopaths. Such men are dead weights, and retard the progress of our cause. They belong to the class whose representatives originated the " Milwaukee Test" (improperly so called), and, like honest (?) Iago, do harm to the cause they pretend to serve.

4. "We homœopathists are told that we are professional frauds; that nothing above the 5th or 6th po tency will cure."

When I mentioned a particular potency, I simply used it as a type, not as literally the 5th or 6th centesimal or decimal, but as a typical low potency. I presume I should have expressed myself more clearly; but if our friend will read a little further, he will find the 7th and 8th mentioned for illustrating the same point.

To render this assertion less figurative, and make it easier of materialistic comprehension, I will say the 12th potency.

Possibly, since I have leveled this to the comprehension of our friend, he will not think personalities necessary. Some information may be gained upon this potency question by reference to Grauvo, l's" Text Book of Homœopathy," or a condensation of his opinion will be found in an article by Emil Tietze, M. D, in The Hahnemannian for Sept, 1879. General information may also be gained from the current literature of our schools.

5. "Some of the sceptics even attempt the unnecessary task of computing the number of miles the diameter of a globe must be to contain one grain of crude matter in a moderately hi. h potency."

Of what practical value is such a computation? It proves nothing, neither does it disprove anything for We do not claim the existence of crude material in a potency as high as the 30th Such a task is Quixotic.

us.

We acknowledge the result, and are amazed to see how subtle must be the potential agent that can work such wonderful results in the economy of the human mechanism.

Our belief in the omnipresence of omnipotent Provi dence is strengthened.

6. The electrical, dynamized condition produced by frictional subdivision of drugs, is transmitted to the menstruum in which it is prepared. What is it, then, that is potential-the menstruum or the electrical influence it contains ? Is it a material or an immaterial power?

Deprive the substance of its polarity and it is inert. Drug molecules, as I thought I had shown in my pre vious article, no longer exist in the high potencies. Is it the telegraph wire or the electricity that is the active agent in transmitting messages? The electricity polarizes the wire. Of what use is the wire without electricity?

As I have before stated, it is an impossibility for materialists to rid themselves of crude matter.

7. Materialists must needs have a reason for every result discovered.” Our friend asks: " If materialists require the rationale of results, do you, on the other hand, ‘go it blind?'”

Is there nothing you sceptics will accept improved, unless you can get the rationale of it? Will you only accept a statement from a friend with absolute proof? Do you always doubt when one of whose veracity you know nothing makes an assertion?

Tell us, what is electricity?

Explain why the uterus expels the fœtus at the end of nine months? Why not at eight, ten, or eleven? These are simply examples of things we take on faith. The thirtieth potency will act; we have proved its power, therefore we believe it.

Practical experience, and a willingness to accept the evidence of our senses, forms the foundation of our faith; more concisely, Our faith is founded on knowledge

8. " 'You speak of an experimenter in Philadelphia tasting a bowl of oyster soup in New York by means of a wire charged with electricity. Your story being true, please tell me, if the soup be potentized by Finke to the C. M. centesimal, will the experimenter in Philadelphia taste the oysters?"

I simply stated a fact and challenged these skeptics to explain it; but, instead of acknowledging inability to offer a solution, our friend did what was a little more consistent, i. e., doubted the fact, and failed in an attempt to make it appear ludicrous. Now, I would like to ask, can a man seriously, in earnest, in investigating the science of which the law of similars is the foundation, ask such a frivolous question as the above?

I will quote again from our critic: " In conclusion, allow me to ask you if in your spiritual philosophy it is the right thing to misrepresent the views of those with whom you cannot agree?" I think, by reviewing this article and reading my previous one carefully, you will find this question superfluous. I have simply made a correct exposition of facts. But now I will suggest that possibly your crude interpretation of ideas may not have been correct enough to prevent us from discovering some discrepancies in your unphilosophical line of reasoning; or your materialistic perception may not have been capable of detecting the shades and tints of meaning which form the tout ensemble of an idea.

The whole foundation of your criticism (?) is incorrect, and for one simple reason: You did not understand my animus in writing the article.

You are an extremist, and when you found views antagonistic to your own, you immediately imagined they must be the expression of an antipodal extremist

in other words, of a high potentist. In the article you found your animus so thoroughly depicted, that you could but attempt a defence of your principles,

To prove that I am not an extremist, I will quote from my previous article, viz: “I do not wish to create the impression that I am advocating the use of high,

Text books can be read and the scientific outlines of the profession learned as well in the quiet of country towns as in the metropolis, but nowhere, except in a large city with ample hospital facilities, can the student be brought face to face with disease in all its varied forms. On entering his profession, the physician soon learns the vast difference between the knowledge of disease gained simply from books and didactic lectures, and the pictures presented to his sight and touch in the living suffering form. Both forms of instruction are essential, and should go hand in hand. Clinical teaching gives form and color to facts which might otherwise be only faintly comprehended and soon forgotten; but the living pictures thus obtained are indelibly impressed upon the mind, and easily recognized when seen again in the field of practice, where quickness of perception and accurate knowledge are so essential to

success.

The absolute necessity of clinical instruction is now so fully recognized that, everywhere, the colleges which give the most full and practical courses are the most successful in their teachings and the most widely sought after by students from every part of the country. Every disease can be fully illustrated; its progress watched from step to step; the treatment carefully noted, and more fully understood than by any word description in the lecture room and the text book. The student enters upon the active duties of his profession, not merely with book knowledge, but that more practical knowledge which makes him in some respects the peer of men twenty years his senior; for in this hospital alone, with its five hundred beds, you will probably see during the coming winter, if you improve your opportunities, not only nearly all the common forms of disease, but those rarer cases you will only occasionally meet with in practice. Let me urge upon you to avail yourselves to the fullest extent of the rich opportunities before you. The facilities for instruction are now so abundant, so easily obtained by you all, there can be no excuse if, through lack of knowledge, you lag in the rear of progress in the great race of life, instead of boldly marching in the front rank.

The first case I shall show you is one of ascites. The patient, as you perceive, is well on in years, and has been tapped twice before. The abdomen is so fully distended as to render her breathing difficult, and thus necessitate this form of relief. This distention is evidently not from gas, for percussion gives a dull sound, and palpation upon the sides of the abdomen shows the fluctuation of fluid. Dr. Hoffman will have the kindness to tap her. You perceive he thrusts the trochar about midway between the umbilicus and the pubes, and the water flows freely through the canula. The operation is very simple, and, notwithstanding it is usually performed at this place, can be done at almost any part of the abdomen. Many believe that this operation should only be performed as a last resort. This, I think, is a mistake. If ordinary medication fail us, removing the water relieves the patient of great weight and renders her more susceptible to medication. Dropsy is not a disease in itself, but the result of a disease elsewhere. It may arise from an impoverished condition of the blood, and from a derangement of any of the great circulatory or excretory organs. The treatment should be directed to the diseased organ, and the great organs of the body are so connected in their work that where one is primarily affected others are very apt to be affected secondarily. If it arises from organic disease of the heart, remedies which will strengthen or quiet its action will be selected: such as Digitalis, Viratrum viridi, Cactus, Spigelia, Aconite, etc. In dropsy setting in early from heart disease, I have found benefit from a pill composed of a quarter of a grain of Fol. digitalis; the same of Proto-iod.merc.; and a half grain of Squills, given three times a day. You must remember we are often compelled to resort to expedients to relieve our patients where specific medi

Professor Dowling said:

I shall bring before you to-day, gentlemen, two patients, each suffering from peculiar and aggravated forms of valvular disease of the heart.

Of course, you are all familiar with the anatomy of the heart and with the construction of the valves-the mitral and the tricuspid, which separate the auricles from the ventricles, and the semi-lunar, which are found at the aortic and the pulmonary orifices. You know that in the healthy heart these valves open wide, permitting the blood to freely flow from the auricles to the ventricles during diastole, and from the ventricles into the aorta and pulmonary artery during the systole of the heart. You know that the moment the systolic action of the ventricles commences, the mitral and the tricuspid valves are perfectly and entirely closed, preventing any regurgitation of blood into the auricles; and that the moment this systolic action of the ventricles ceases, the semi-lunar valves close just as tightly, preventing any regurgitation of blood from the aorta and pulmonary artery.

If from any cause the auricular ventricular orifices are rendered smaller than normal, an impediment is offered to the free passage of blood into the ventricles, resulting in serious disturbances to the circulation, and producing, from mechanical obstruction to the flow of blood, conditions which are liable at any time, and perhaps with little or no warning, to result in the death of the patient.

So with the aortic and pulmonary orifices. This condition, which is called stenosis of the mitral, tricuspid, aortic, or pulmonary orifice, as the case may be, arises from thickening or retraction of the edges of the valves, which may possibly be congenital, but which arises in almost every instance from an endocarditis-inflammation of the lining membrane of the

heart.

So much for stenosis, or contraction of the orifices.

If from any cause the mitral or tricuspid valve fail to close perfectly during the systole of the ventricles, blood which should flow into the aorta or pulmonary artery, will regurgitate-flow back-into the auricle.

So with the semi-lunar valves: if they are imperfect, if they fail to close when the diastole of the ventricle commences, blood which should be sent on its course through the arterial vessels of the greater circulation, or through the pulmonary artery to the lungs, regur gitates, flows back, into the ventricles. This condi tion—which is called insufficiency of the aortic, tricuspid, semi-lunar valves of the aorta or pulmonary artery, as the case may be-also arises in nearly every instance from an endocarditis; and you can readily